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SLU DEEP DELTA CIVIL WAR SYMPOSIUM
– Dr. Charles D. Lewis, shown in a photo from the collection of Southeastern
Louisiana University’s Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies, was a sergeant
and surgeon in the Confederate Army’s Companies C, F, and S of the 4th
Louisiana infantry regiment. The regiment recruited heavily in the Florida
Parishes. Stories of soldiers such as Lewis will be highlighted during
Southeastern’s annual Deep Delta Civil War Symposium, June 11-12.18TH ANNUAL SLU DEEP DELTA CIVIL
WAR SYMPOSIUM EXAMINES “POLITICS OF WAR” HAMMOND – "The Politics of War:
Unionism, Leadership, and Decisions Affecting Combat, 1861-1865" will be
the theme of the annual Deep Delta Civil War Symposium, June 11-12, at
Southeastern Louisiana University.
Now in its 18th year, the symposium
is one of the largest Civil War conferences in the United States and annually
attracts a national audience as well as many local Civil War enthusiasts.
Sponsored by Southeastern’s Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies and
department of history and political science, the two-day symposium will
be held in War Memorial Student Union Theatre.
Center for Southeast Louisiana
Studies Director Samuel C. Hyde Jr., Southeastern’s Ford Family Chair in
Regional Studies, said topics to be covered include General Sherman’s march
through Georgia, Confederate General Pat Cleburne’s efforts to see freed
slaves enlisted as Confederate soldiers, unionism in the wartime South,
and the personal views of Confederate officers observing the conflict.
Hyde said the list of presenters
“is undoubtedly the finest ever assembled during the course of the symposium.”
Speakers include noted authors Gordon Rhea, Craig Symonds, Herman Hattaway,
Terry Jones, Ann Bailey, and Terry Winschel.
The program will begin at 12:30
p.m. on Friday, June 11 and will feature hourly presentations until 7:30
p.m. Sessions will resume from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, June 12.
“Social hours are interspersed
throughout the program to offer guests the opportunity to share views with
the scholars,” Hyde said. “A 2:45 p.m. roundtable debate on Saturday is
designed to encourage lively exchanges of views between the presenters
and the audience.”
The Deep Delta symposium also offers
a Civil War book fair, sponsored by Hammond’s Bayou Booksellers and LSU
Press.
“School instruction and conferences
concerning the Civil War have experienced a dramatic transformation in
recent years,” said Hyde. “Since the bicentennial of America’s bloodiest
conflict in the 1960s, scholarship centered on the war has experienced
a vast transformation. National circles no longer view the Civil War as
two determined sides contesting a competing view of America that was ultimately
decided by Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomatox. Instead, the national
perspective has reduced the relevance of the war to one issue, slavery,
and assigned accolades to the victors and something close to shame to the
defeated Confederates. Civil War literature has accordingly assigned glory
to all who served the Union while something decidedly less has been given
to those who fought for the South.
Hyde said one of the Deep Delta
Civil War Symposium’s continuing missions is “to combat the monolithic,
and in the view of many inaccurate, portrayal of the purpose and significance
of the Civil War.”
“As always,” he said, “the Deep
Delta Symposium is committed to revealing all viewpoints and perspectives
and audience participation is encouraged.”
Special prices are available
for advance purchases of tickets but guests can purchase individual session
or full conference tickets at the door. Southeastern faculty may attend
the sessions at no charge, but should call the Center if they want to participate
in meals.
For additional information about
the Deep Delta Civil War Symposium, including fees, call 985-549-2151,
e-mail selahistory@selu.edu or
visit the “events” link at www.selu.edu/Academics/Depts/RegionalStudies.